Implementing a Technology Change Initiative

I am a Change Management Practitioner and wear the hat of a Strategic Foresight Practitioner. I've got a lot of experience in system implementation and Tax Administration in my almost 14 years at a Revenue Authority in West Africa. I started in 2009, with the Tax Identification Number (TIN) system implementation which was the first time we had a unique Tax Identification System for all our taxpayers across the country.

Over the years, I have been part of key government initiatives within the National Revenue Authority. In 2017/2018, I was also part of a multi-million-dollar IT system project, called the Integrated Tax Administration System (ITAS). This system automates domestic tax collection, which involves the end-to-end process of domestic revenue administration. Amidst the challenges of the Covid-19 Pandemic, we were able launch in 2020, starting with the pilot, and then eventually rolled it out to all taxpayers even in the provincial areas of the country as well.

Adding Change Management to our project

At the early phase of project implementation, Change Management component was introduced within the project. The ITAS supplier brought in a change management lead to support us. She was a Certified Change Manager and introduced me to the Prosci® Change Management Certification.

I enrolled to the Prosci® Change Management Certification program to empower myself with the required skills to support project implementation and overcome challenges associated with the people side of change.

How I successfully implemented a Technology Change Initiative – Aminata Mansaray, Prosci® Certified Change Practitioner

I enlightened the team on the need for change management, and how we can also support impacted individuals through coaching to embrace the change that we were rolling out with the project. We involved all stakeholders including the board and senior management, because they were the Sponsors of the project and key decision makers. We facilitated Change management sessions during board retreats and they understood their role in the project implementation.

Revenue collection is always centre stage in the organisation and one challenge we encountered at the beginning was getting the required support from Project Owners as they chased revenue at the expense of project implementation.

We had engagements with them including one-on-one meetings to get buy in. In the past, we have had tax technology change projects within the organisation that were not fully efficient, so people were sceptical about the successful implementation of the ITAS. We needed to change the mindset of the internal stakeholders through a Change Management process.

Based on our communication plan, we ensured we conducted awareness engagement for taxpayers who are end users as well. We were implementing the project during the pandemic period and we, therefore, had to be creative and engaged them through online awareness workshops.

In addition, through our communications and stakeholder engagement plans, we had several channels to engage stakeholders. We made use of electronics and social media during the pandemic period (WhatsApp, Facebook, Radio and TV programs) as well as slots in programs organised by other departments, as opportunities to engage with both internal and external stakeholders. The Authority at the time asked taxpayers to send their returns electronically instead of coming to the office. The system enables taxpayers to do so from the comfort of their offices, shops, homes or anywhere if they have an electronic device and internet connectivity.

We faced competition for resources specifically for change management, as there were other ICT projects the organisation was implementing at the same time but we persevered until the project was completed. As measures of sustaining the change, during roll-out we visited out station offices to support the staff and ensure additional staff were deployed during peak periods to support taxpayers at our offices and even at taxpayer’s business premises.

Key Advice

My key advice will be, when you are implementing a technology change project, it is important to ensure the project's owners are actively involved right from the start so that they own the project from the start and will be end users. They should be involved at the point of developing the requirements specification, technical proposal right through the selection of suppliers and the implementation the project. Institute Change Management at the start and have a very strong and committed project management team.

Change competency and the dedication of the project team ensured that most of us were empowered to support change management activities during the course of the project implementation.

This not only helped foster the change but also helped us to support the project sponsors and project owners to sustain the change and successfully implement the project.